by BRUNSWICK, Ohio– The pace of play and outside shooting were the Achilles heal for the Tigers on Tuesday night. It didn’t take long for Brunswick to make a statement, and that started with senior guard Quinn Barnett. Once he knocked down his first 3-pointer early in the first quarter, he knew it was going to be one of those nights.
“A lot of defensive rebounds led to transition shots so I thought that was really good for us,” Barnett said. “Me and Trey playing together is always going to be good because when we have good chemistry it just makes the team work harder.”
The Blue Devils got out to an early 8-4 lead following a Barnett and-one. From there, they ended the first quarter on a 19-10 run to take a 27-14 lead after the first quarter with Barnett out-scoring the Tigers himself scoring 18 points in the first quarter alone.
That’s when the Blue Devils opened the game up.
During the first three minutes of the second quarter, the Blue Devils outscored the Tigers14-4 following a Tommy Morgan 3-pointer that forced Tiger’s head coach JR Bremer to call a full timeout as they trailed by 24 points.
From there, Mackey’s team would outscore the Tigers 15-9 in the final four and a half minutes to take a commanding 56-27 lead at halftime, something Mackey credited to how well his team prepared for Tuesday night’s game.
“They’re dangerous on the glass and we were worried about their second-chance opportunities,” Mackey explained. “They’re ranked in the area for a reason, we just had one of those nights where we shared the ball well and cashed out in the end.
“It’s really nice to be able to shoot it that great,” Trey Drexler said regarding the 3-point shooting. “We know that not every game is going to be like that and we were just feeding off of each other tonight.”
The second half was no different as Trey Drexler’s two free throws with three minutes left in the third quarter pushed the Blue Devil lead to 35 points. There was a running clock for most of the second half with the Tigers having no solutions to the fast-paced Blue Devil tempo and their ability to deflate a team with the elite 3-point shooting.
“We have a lot of weapons and with the way we play, it’s hard to guard us,” Mackey said. “We’re just trying to get better and figuring out rotations. One thing I do know is that what we did offensively tonight, we’re very capable of doing….it was fun to watch and now we just have to get right back at it.”
For the game, Barnett finished with a game-high 27 points along with 22 points from Drexler as the two of them combined to make nine 3-pointers during the win. Tommy Morgan finished with nine points along with seven points from Aiden Shaker.
For the Tigers, Mike Lewandowski finished with a team-high 12 points during the loss. Jay’Quan Stubbs and Carter Armstrong rounded out the scoring with 8 and six points, respectively.
